Parasitic Worms May Soothe Intestine (1 of 6) (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Parasitic Worms May Soothe Intestine (1 of 6)

Caption

These are Trichuris trichiura eggs from an infected patient with ulcerative colitis. This image comes from a section through a worm (stained with hemotoxylin and eosin) in a pinch biopsy taken during the colonoscopy of a patient who infected himself with the parasite to treat his symptoms of ulcerative colitis. The worms may be inducing increased mucus production through activating T helper cells that produce the cytokine IL-22 and this may help alleviate the symptoms of ulcerative colitis. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Dec. 1, 2010, issue of Science Translational Medicine, published by AAAS. The study, by Mara J. Broadhurst at University of California at San Francisco in San Francisco, Calif., and colleagues was titled, "IL-22+ CD4+ T Cells Are Associated with Therapeutic Trichuris trichiura Infection in an Ulcerative Colitis Patient."

Credit

Kimberley Evason, UCSF

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